Kruger trip report
Dec 29th, 2006, 01:08 AM
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Kruger trip report
Hallo to all fodorites, here is hoping that everyone is enjoying the festive season. Reading all the latest threads specifically on Kruger, made me feel that we could help and maybe change the perception that excists on what is sometimes referred to as "Africa Light". I am a guide and i do work for a safari company, so now that we have cleared that, the threads i am intending to post after each trip, will NOT be to solicite business, but purely as assistance to future Kruger Travellers, and to show that Kruger's game viewing compares with the best Africa has to offer. I will gladly answer all questions on Kruger in general on this forum.
I had 2 guests with me and we stayed at Skukuza for 2 nights and 2 nights in the Sabie Sand at a lodge in the North. Seeing that we use this lodge often and I do not want to market them on this site, i will leave it at that.
We checked in on the 20 th of December, in SA school holiday peak time, and left the morning of the 22nd.On our first drive we decided to stick to the Sabie river and took the main road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie, this road connects the two biggest camps in the park and can therefore be very busy. Our main aim though was crocs and hippos. You will find a lot of little loop roads off this main road that offer magnificent views of the river, and on one of these we soon found Hippos out of the water in 38 degrees celcius! We could not help notice the far off, soft growling of cats, when we switched of our vehicle. We could all hear leopards mating, and an adrenalin rush second to none ensued. Did I mention that we were maybe 15 minutes into our drive. With a little bit of patience we soon had the female in front of us in the road. A lot of vehicles gathered and she moved back into the bush. By spending time we eventually managed to see them mating through the bushes on, 5 occassions. So yes Kruger does have a lot of traffic on some roads, but our experienced travellers on this forum will agree that everything in the bush comes with patience. The gates at the camp at this stage of the year closes at 1830 and one recieves a gate permit upon entering Kruger park that specifies gate times for the specific seasons.
In December the gates open at 0430!! We were up by 0330, packed with picnic goodies and joined the grid at the gate by 0415. It really works getting up early in all game parks and considering that there is nearly no traffic on the roads in Kruger from 2000 onwards you will often find cats right on the road. This morning we crossed the low level bridge over both the sabie and sand rivers. We were rewarded with a beautiful leopard male 5 minutes out. Again 3 vehicles arrived and the leopard slunk of into the bush, but again we waited and you will often find that with your vehicle switched off and stationary, animals will in most cases come back to the road. This gentleman appeared in front of us, walked down the road and then calmly dissapeared into the bush. Numerous antelope species followed before we saw 4 old buffalo bulls in the water on the high level bridge on the sabie river. We then proceeded on the Salitje dirt road where we were the only vehicle with 4 lionesses for 30 minutes right next to the road. The Salitje/Tshokwane link northwards provided us with our first of 6 individual white rhino sightins over the next hour of driving towards Muntshe mountain. This eastern part of the park opens into true savanna due to the Ecca shale deposits and Basalt bedrock. We bumped into 3 Cheetah males digesting their kill, made that morning. This was where we encountered our first other vehicle in approxamitely 2 hours of driving. And this in peak holiday season in Kruger!
We decided to have breakfast at Mlondozi picnic spot. The facilities in Kruger are top notch and other than the beautiful view over Mlondozi dam and onto Muntshe, you can hire gas bottles for R10 ( about 1.5 US Dollars ) with a big pan and connection for a cooked breakfast. We thus enjoyed bacon and eggs with hippos, crocs, impalas, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, baboons and monkeys. Not to mention the birds. Washing up facilities are available at all picnic spots in the park as well as constant boiling water for tea or coffee. We headed to Lower Sabie after breakfast and all agreed that this was the highlight of the day. At Sunset dam we saw a rhino bull sleeping, hippo, impala etc. A gargantuan croc caught a huge catfish right in front of us, the splashing attracted 7 other larger crocs and all we needed was Sir David Attenborough voice, and we were into a BBC documentary. We watched them for about 40 minutes before we moved towards Skukuza. 15 minutes later a couple of vehicles on the road pointed out a pride of lion on the other side of the river. We decided to move on, as we were looking for Elephant. We eventually got to Skukuza after 3 fantastic elephant sightings. Please let me reiterate that this was one drive, and not our experience but the beauty of Kruger at it's best.
Headed south for the afternoon and encountered a leopard female in a marula tree 10 metres off the road. We saw masses of what is referred to as general game ( not less special ) before we were fortunate with another 2 different Elephant sightings. We stretched legs on the Matekanyane view point before heading back to camp.
Another early start as we had to head north today. Again crossed the low level bridges over the sabie and sand rivers and again we had the fortune of seeing a juv leopard female 5 minutes out. She crossed the road and playfully sharpened her nails on a tree next to us. At the junction with the high level bridge we found 9 WILD DOGS hunting and followed them excitedly. The best thing about Kruger is that as soon as the main roads get busy, one can head off on the multitude of dirt roads and again we encountered no other vehicles on the Nhlangulene dirt road northwards. It was magical. It started with a white rhino cow and calf, about 400 buffaloes, 2 bull bufalloes and then the highlight of the morning. We encountered a large tusker, this elephant's tusks were touching the ground and with the kind permission of our guests, we will post it on the forum in the near future. These Elephants are nearly a thing of the past with poaching and calcium and phosphate deficiencies in other parks not promoting good tusk growth, you should consider yourself very lucky when seeing a living monument like this. A white rhino bull was wallowing in the mud next to him, while 2 hyenas were ambling down the road. We finished off with a herd of sable antelope close to the Muzandzeni picnic spot, where we had another bush breakfast. On the way to the Orpen gate we saw vultures in the trees and heard lions feeding. Unfortunately a bit to deep in the bush, but content with our morning's viewing we moved on to get to the northern Sabie Sand.
A lot of foderites are familiar with game viewing in the SSGR so I will not elaborate. Every one going to Kruger can see what we have seen, as with their rules in place, it affords every one the same chance to see animals. Obviously we have the privilege of going to Kruger a lot and can improve our chances slightly by monitoring animal movements. Please feel free to ask any questions on anything to do with Kruger and we will gladly share our experiences and information, on this forum. We will post at least one trip report per month and will keep everyone up to date with new happenings in the Park. The park's website also contain great info and the address is www.sanparks.org.za
Chat again next year, hope every one has a great 2007!
I had 2 guests with me and we stayed at Skukuza for 2 nights and 2 nights in the Sabie Sand at a lodge in the North. Seeing that we use this lodge often and I do not want to market them on this site, i will leave it at that.
We checked in on the 20 th of December, in SA school holiday peak time, and left the morning of the 22nd.On our first drive we decided to stick to the Sabie river and took the main road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie, this road connects the two biggest camps in the park and can therefore be very busy. Our main aim though was crocs and hippos. You will find a lot of little loop roads off this main road that offer magnificent views of the river, and on one of these we soon found Hippos out of the water in 38 degrees celcius! We could not help notice the far off, soft growling of cats, when we switched of our vehicle. We could all hear leopards mating, and an adrenalin rush second to none ensued. Did I mention that we were maybe 15 minutes into our drive. With a little bit of patience we soon had the female in front of us in the road. A lot of vehicles gathered and she moved back into the bush. By spending time we eventually managed to see them mating through the bushes on, 5 occassions. So yes Kruger does have a lot of traffic on some roads, but our experienced travellers on this forum will agree that everything in the bush comes with patience. The gates at the camp at this stage of the year closes at 1830 and one recieves a gate permit upon entering Kruger park that specifies gate times for the specific seasons.
In December the gates open at 0430!! We were up by 0330, packed with picnic goodies and joined the grid at the gate by 0415. It really works getting up early in all game parks and considering that there is nearly no traffic on the roads in Kruger from 2000 onwards you will often find cats right on the road. This morning we crossed the low level bridge over both the sabie and sand rivers. We were rewarded with a beautiful leopard male 5 minutes out. Again 3 vehicles arrived and the leopard slunk of into the bush, but again we waited and you will often find that with your vehicle switched off and stationary, animals will in most cases come back to the road. This gentleman appeared in front of us, walked down the road and then calmly dissapeared into the bush. Numerous antelope species followed before we saw 4 old buffalo bulls in the water on the high level bridge on the sabie river. We then proceeded on the Salitje dirt road where we were the only vehicle with 4 lionesses for 30 minutes right next to the road. The Salitje/Tshokwane link northwards provided us with our first of 6 individual white rhino sightins over the next hour of driving towards Muntshe mountain. This eastern part of the park opens into true savanna due to the Ecca shale deposits and Basalt bedrock. We bumped into 3 Cheetah males digesting their kill, made that morning. This was where we encountered our first other vehicle in approxamitely 2 hours of driving. And this in peak holiday season in Kruger!
We decided to have breakfast at Mlondozi picnic spot. The facilities in Kruger are top notch and other than the beautiful view over Mlondozi dam and onto Muntshe, you can hire gas bottles for R10 ( about 1.5 US Dollars ) with a big pan and connection for a cooked breakfast. We thus enjoyed bacon and eggs with hippos, crocs, impalas, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, baboons and monkeys. Not to mention the birds. Washing up facilities are available at all picnic spots in the park as well as constant boiling water for tea or coffee. We headed to Lower Sabie after breakfast and all agreed that this was the highlight of the day. At Sunset dam we saw a rhino bull sleeping, hippo, impala etc. A gargantuan croc caught a huge catfish right in front of us, the splashing attracted 7 other larger crocs and all we needed was Sir David Attenborough voice, and we were into a BBC documentary. We watched them for about 40 minutes before we moved towards Skukuza. 15 minutes later a couple of vehicles on the road pointed out a pride of lion on the other side of the river. We decided to move on, as we were looking for Elephant. We eventually got to Skukuza after 3 fantastic elephant sightings. Please let me reiterate that this was one drive, and not our experience but the beauty of Kruger at it's best.
Headed south for the afternoon and encountered a leopard female in a marula tree 10 metres off the road. We saw masses of what is referred to as general game ( not less special ) before we were fortunate with another 2 different Elephant sightings. We stretched legs on the Matekanyane view point before heading back to camp.
Another early start as we had to head north today. Again crossed the low level bridges over the sabie and sand rivers and again we had the fortune of seeing a juv leopard female 5 minutes out. She crossed the road and playfully sharpened her nails on a tree next to us. At the junction with the high level bridge we found 9 WILD DOGS hunting and followed them excitedly. The best thing about Kruger is that as soon as the main roads get busy, one can head off on the multitude of dirt roads and again we encountered no other vehicles on the Nhlangulene dirt road northwards. It was magical. It started with a white rhino cow and calf, about 400 buffaloes, 2 bull bufalloes and then the highlight of the morning. We encountered a large tusker, this elephant's tusks were touching the ground and with the kind permission of our guests, we will post it on the forum in the near future. These Elephants are nearly a thing of the past with poaching and calcium and phosphate deficiencies in other parks not promoting good tusk growth, you should consider yourself very lucky when seeing a living monument like this. A white rhino bull was wallowing in the mud next to him, while 2 hyenas were ambling down the road. We finished off with a herd of sable antelope close to the Muzandzeni picnic spot, where we had another bush breakfast. On the way to the Orpen gate we saw vultures in the trees and heard lions feeding. Unfortunately a bit to deep in the bush, but content with our morning's viewing we moved on to get to the northern Sabie Sand.
A lot of foderites are familiar with game viewing in the SSGR so I will not elaborate. Every one going to Kruger can see what we have seen, as with their rules in place, it affords every one the same chance to see animals. Obviously we have the privilege of going to Kruger a lot and can improve our chances slightly by monitoring animal movements. Please feel free to ask any questions on anything to do with Kruger and we will gladly share our experiences and information, on this forum. We will post at least one trip report per month and will keep everyone up to date with new happenings in the Park. The park's website also contain great info and the address is www.sanparks.org.za
Chat again next year, hope every one has a great 2007!
Dec 29th, 2006, 03:27 PM
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great report Jaco. thanks a lot. i have a question for you. i have only self driven in kruger once and that was my first safari experience. back then, we were a bit naive (sp?) about the wildlife. subsequently, i have visited lodges where we had guides driving and have learned a lot about the behavior of elephants etc. which made me think, wow, maybe i shouldnt self drive through places where their are elephants etc bc i cant read when they are gonna charge (mock or not). and wouldnt be able to read the animals temperament like you professionals can. do u think this is an unfounded worry? thanks for your thoughts.
Dec 29th, 2006, 06:37 PM
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Hallo Jaco
Jy kan seker nie onthou nie maar jy was my gids by Chitwa Chitwa Safari Lodge ses jaar gelede.As ek weer Suid-Afrika toe kom sal ek verseker 'n safari met jou reel-Groete vanaf 'n baie koue Kanada!
Jy kan seker nie onthou nie maar jy was my gids by Chitwa Chitwa Safari Lodge ses jaar gelede.As ek weer Suid-Afrika toe kom sal ek verseker 'n safari met jou reel-Groete vanaf 'n baie koue Kanada!
Jan 1st, 2007, 01:39 AM
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We stayed at Lower Sabie an went on the morning walk - Black Rhino - absolutely sensational and can highly recommend - make sure you book before you arrive - think they only take 8 guests and it leaves at 4.30am.
Jan 1st, 2007, 10:29 PM
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Good morning to everyone from a cold, rainy SA. I am looking forward to more trip reports and to responding to posts in 2007. Thank you to all for the positive responses.
Napamatt, neglected the birds on this first of I promise many trip reports.
This time of the year birding in Southern Africa is phenomonal as we have all the migratory birds down here. The best sightings we had was of flocks of Amur falcons, Steppe Buzzards, Steppe Eagles and Lesser- spotted Eagles following a weather front on day 2 in the park. All these raptors migrate from Russia to follow cold fronts in our rainy season which releases flying termites, a huge protein source. The Amur Falcon, previously known as the Eastern Redfooted Falcon, breeds only in the Amur river in southern Russia. It then flies from there to southern India and 3000 kilometres over the Indian ocean before it enters the East coast of Africa. From here it follows the weather fronts I mentioned. An interesting site to look at for birders is: http://lists.nu.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/sabirdnet
Celia, will post threads like this at least once a month, and hope that you will enjoy them.
Bigcountry, I hear what you are saying, and remember that even though we are considered to be " professionals", Elephants often make us find out that the colour of adrenalin is brown! Their sheer size is just so intimidating. I think what we do have is access to research done, studying for our exams and consistent exposure to these magnificent beasts. You will find varying interpretations and ideas on approaching ellies. What works for me is to approach them slowly, and at the slightest sign of discomfort, to switch the vehicle of and remain stationary. The reason is that they have incredibly sensitive hearing, with most of their communication range being sub sonic. You can imagine how annoying an idling vehicle must be. The reason for being stationary, is that with breeding herds, and in most cases bulls, they are nervous of crossing roads, so by remaining quiet and stationary, you are no threat. Even if the matriarch comes closer with spread, open ears, she is testing you to see whether she can trust this object to not make noise, move and threaten her family. If you move in this situation you will antagonise her and you will be likely to get her to react. Musth bulls are a different situation all together, and if you encounter them on the road, enjoy the scenery and birds from a safe distance from this gentleman, until he moves of the road. Musth bulls can be identified by the constant weeping of fluid from the temporal gland, urine dripping from the penile sheath and you they smell "interesting". This happens to dominant bulls 3 to 7 months of each year and the increase of testosterone in this time, makes them a bit temperamental. Musth out of interest sake is a Hindi word and means "naughty"! It is important to reiterate that this works for me and that there are allways exceptions to the "rules". I hope it helps as it can be fun trying to "read" the animals body language from a safe distance, and then setting parametres that works for you.
Safarinut, ek sal jou nie makilik vergeet nie en dit sal 'n eer wees om jou weer te vergesel op 'n safari. Ek wil jou bedank vir die komplimente en vriendelike woorde, veral op hierdie forum, wat jy in die verlede geplaas het. Dit maak hierdie werk die moeite werd. Gessende kersfees en voorspoedige nuwe jaar vir julle. Springbok groete.
I knew we could rely on your excellent sense of humour Lynn, and that makes it even more fun to participate on this forum. Please never move over to the DARK side, as i think we will all be the poorer for it. Laurika sends her regards and we would like to wish you a prosperous new year. Our little one is progressing as planned, and we cannot wait.
Some of us have to work, and that means that I will be on safari, walking in the Manyeleti and driving in the Northern SSGR for the next 10 days with our 2 Italian friends.
Cheers everybody,
Jaco
Napamatt, neglected the birds on this first of I promise many trip reports.
This time of the year birding in Southern Africa is phenomonal as we have all the migratory birds down here. The best sightings we had was of flocks of Amur falcons, Steppe Buzzards, Steppe Eagles and Lesser- spotted Eagles following a weather front on day 2 in the park. All these raptors migrate from Russia to follow cold fronts in our rainy season which releases flying termites, a huge protein source. The Amur Falcon, previously known as the Eastern Redfooted Falcon, breeds only in the Amur river in southern Russia. It then flies from there to southern India and 3000 kilometres over the Indian ocean before it enters the East coast of Africa. From here it follows the weather fronts I mentioned. An interesting site to look at for birders is: http://lists.nu.ac.za/mailman/listinfo/sabirdnet
Celia, will post threads like this at least once a month, and hope that you will enjoy them.
Bigcountry, I hear what you are saying, and remember that even though we are considered to be " professionals", Elephants often make us find out that the colour of adrenalin is brown! Their sheer size is just so intimidating. I think what we do have is access to research done, studying for our exams and consistent exposure to these magnificent beasts. You will find varying interpretations and ideas on approaching ellies. What works for me is to approach them slowly, and at the slightest sign of discomfort, to switch the vehicle of and remain stationary. The reason is that they have incredibly sensitive hearing, with most of their communication range being sub sonic. You can imagine how annoying an idling vehicle must be. The reason for being stationary, is that with breeding herds, and in most cases bulls, they are nervous of crossing roads, so by remaining quiet and stationary, you are no threat. Even if the matriarch comes closer with spread, open ears, she is testing you to see whether she can trust this object to not make noise, move and threaten her family. If you move in this situation you will antagonise her and you will be likely to get her to react. Musth bulls are a different situation all together, and if you encounter them on the road, enjoy the scenery and birds from a safe distance from this gentleman, until he moves of the road. Musth bulls can be identified by the constant weeping of fluid from the temporal gland, urine dripping from the penile sheath and you they smell "interesting". This happens to dominant bulls 3 to 7 months of each year and the increase of testosterone in this time, makes them a bit temperamental. Musth out of interest sake is a Hindi word and means "naughty"! It is important to reiterate that this works for me and that there are allways exceptions to the "rules". I hope it helps as it can be fun trying to "read" the animals body language from a safe distance, and then setting parametres that works for you.
Safarinut, ek sal jou nie makilik vergeet nie en dit sal 'n eer wees om jou weer te vergesel op 'n safari. Ek wil jou bedank vir die komplimente en vriendelike woorde, veral op hierdie forum, wat jy in die verlede geplaas het. Dit maak hierdie werk die moeite werd. Gessende kersfees en voorspoedige nuwe jaar vir julle. Springbok groete.
I knew we could rely on your excellent sense of humour Lynn, and that makes it even more fun to participate on this forum. Please never move over to the DARK side, as i think we will all be the poorer for it. Laurika sends her regards and we would like to wish you a prosperous new year. Our little one is progressing as planned, and we cannot wait.
Some of us have to work, and that means that I will be on safari, walking in the Manyeleti and driving in the Northern SSGR for the next 10 days with our 2 Italian friends.
Cheers everybody,
Jaco
Jan 1st, 2007, 11:00 PM
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Jaco,
Thanks for your Kruger reports and I am looking forward to more. We don't hear much about Kruger on this forum and it deserves more attention. And especially so because it is a neighbor to one of our favorite areas, Sabi Sands. A large neighbor compared to Sabi Sands
We in fact are going to Kruger this coming September from about Sep 2nd to 8th. I have yet to make any camp reservations so I need to get busy. There will be three of us, my sister is going, so I'll be looking for family type bungalows in Kruger. After Kruger we are going to Kings Camp also a neighbor of Kruger.
regards - tom
Thanks for your Kruger reports and I am looking forward to more. We don't hear much about Kruger on this forum and it deserves more attention. And especially so because it is a neighbor to one of our favorite areas, Sabi Sands. A large neighbor compared to Sabi Sands
We in fact are going to Kruger this coming September from about Sep 2nd to 8th. I have yet to make any camp reservations so I need to get busy. There will be three of us, my sister is going, so I'll be looking for family type bungalows in Kruger. After Kruger we are going to Kings Camp also a neighbor of Kruger.
regards - tom
Jan 1st, 2007, 11:16 PM
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Jaco, thanks, as has been offered by the other posters.
I'll be bringing my family to SA in August to stay in Cape Town with relatives then doing a fly drive to Kruger - basing ourselves I think at Skukuza and Olifants, I haven't been since 92 and with two small children in tow now I want to relax and not have to change camps often, and I know that Skukuza at least has plenty of options if we take time out from game drives.
I haver a wonderfully indepth book on Kruger park, though I'm sure now outdated that covers all the roads and best drives to do so will be studying it as August looms.
In the meantime I hope to hear more of your travels, happy new year,
Matt
I'll be bringing my family to SA in August to stay in Cape Town with relatives then doing a fly drive to Kruger - basing ourselves I think at Skukuza and Olifants, I haven't been since 92 and with two small children in tow now I want to relax and not have to change camps often, and I know that Skukuza at least has plenty of options if we take time out from game drives.
I haver a wonderfully indepth book on Kruger park, though I'm sure now outdated that covers all the roads and best drives to do so will be studying it as August looms.
In the meantime I hope to hear more of your travels, happy new year,
Matt
Jan 2nd, 2007, 09:42 AM
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Thank you, Jaco; I will certainly enjoy your future Kruger updates.
As has been said, Kruger is a bit neglected on this forum, and that's too bad. The sheer size and the wealth of wildlife there make it important. And second, I would hate to see this forum become devoted exclusively to very expensive safaris. South Africa has so much to offer the visitor who's on a mid-price budget; I would hate for Fodor's readers to get the impression that safaris are only for the very rich.
The only trouble is, if I'm reading your posts every month, will I be able to last until 2008, which is when I think we'll next be in SA?
As has been said, Kruger is a bit neglected on this forum, and that's too bad. The sheer size and the wealth of wildlife there make it important. And second, I would hate to see this forum become devoted exclusively to very expensive safaris. South Africa has so much to offer the visitor who's on a mid-price budget; I would hate for Fodor's readers to get the impression that safaris are only for the very rich.
The only trouble is, if I'm reading your posts every month, will I be able to last until 2008, which is when I think we'll next be in SA?
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